Red Sand
by Illeana Starbright
Summary: Ten years ago Trisha Elric burned with the rest of Ed and Al's childhood hometown. Five years ago, they attempted to bring her back from the dead. Their mistake cost them, and Ed sold his soul to regain what had been lost, but a sinister plot inside the government and their ethnic heritage isn't going to make obtaining their nearly impossible goal any easier. Ishvalan Elrics AU.
1. Prelude: Day of Terror

_Prelude: Day of Terror_

Fire was raining from the sky as if Ishvala herself was judging them for some kind of short coming or betrayal. A small boy stumbled across the rubble covered streets, breath coming in sharp gasps and white hair flopping with each step. The frightened screams and wails of people he'd grown up around seemed to be chasing him, driving him down the street towards his home where his mother and little brother were. He had to warn them of the coming danger before the alchemist spreading destruction across the town reached them.

The Elric house was situated on the outskirts of town with a generous space all around it that separated it from the rest of the houses nearby. This was because Trisha Elric had been declared unclean for marrying an outsider and, worse yet, having children with him. She and her two sons lived alone, only tolerated by the local people because the outsider had long since vanished into the heat of the desert, never to be seen again. The only reminder she had of her lover were the physical similarities her two boys shared with him. Edward, the older of the two, took after his father. His hair was the brilliant gold color of the sun, so bright that it was difficult to look at, and his skin was light enough, that it set him apart from other Ishvalans. Only his eyes, red as the blood that rushed through his veins, identified him easily as one of Trisha's people. Her younger son, Alphonse, took after her more than Edward did. His skin was a warm, rich brown and his hair was pale, though not as pale as most Ishvalans. His golden eyes were the only obvious feature that set him apart from those around him. Those differences, which had the Ishvalans around them turning up their noses in scorn in disgust, might actually allow the Elric boys to survive, if they managed to escape the coming massacre.

The boy pushed himself faster, knowing that he was running out of time to get his family out of the path of the relentless flames. He was so focused on his destination that he didn't notice a spot in the road that had warped and twisted upwards during the initial bombardment by the Amestrians. His foot caught on the edge and he stumbled, crashing hard onto the ground. His hands, which he'd flung out in front of him to stop his descent, skidded across stone, tearing the skin on the heels of his palms. The boy struggled to pull in air to fill his aching lungs only to have what little breath he'd managed to regain come out of him in a gasp when a hand grabbed the back of his shirt. He thrashed weakly, black dots dancing across his vision from lack of air, as he was dragged backwards into a rubble strewn alley between a building that was already blazing and one that hadn't yet caught fire.

Moments after he'd been pulled out of the way, a wave of white hot centered fire blasted down the street in such a way that it would have incinerated the boy had he still been struggling to get off the ground. He gasped, red eyes going wide, and then scrambled to his feet as the building on the other side of him burst into flames, sending shattering glass flying outwards. The heat was unbearable and the boy bolted towards the main road, focusing on escaping the flames. A hand grabbing the back of his shirt again stopped him short, feet slipping out from underneath him. He was dropped and he turned his head to take in the sight of the figure looming over him. It was difficult to tell whether or not the figure was male or female. Its slender form was dressed all in black with dark, spiky strands of what the boy suspected was hair to spread sharp shadows across the alley, flickering in the firelight. The hair was held back by a thick, black sweatband that didn't seem to do much good in controlling the wild strands. Violet eyes gleamed and lips were pulled back just enough to reveal sharp canines.

"Don't be in such a hurry to die, little brother," the figure said with a toothy smile, voice low and vaguely threatening. The boy opened his mouth to protest being called little only to have a hand quickly clapped over his mouth. "Shh, shh," the figure cooed. "You don't want that nasty alchemist to know you're here." The boy whimpered, then watched in frozen silence as a man in military blues with fire spilling from his white gloves, which sparked every time he snapped his fingers, made his way past their hiding spot. The figure waited until the alchemist was out of sight before releasing the boy. "Now run along home," it said, giving the boy a shove that sent him stumbling forward. "You don't want anything to happen to Mommy and little brother." Then the figure leapt away, vanishing across the burning and crumbling rooftops. The boy stared for a moment before the groaning that signaled the building was about to collapse startled him into running again.

The boy shoved his front door opened yelling, "Mom! _Mom!_ "

" _Ed!_ " Trisha Elric had tears in her eyes as she swooped down to pull her oldest son into a quick, tight hug. "You're safe." Her arms trembled when she released him, as if she was barely resisting the urge to cling to him and never let him go.

"Mom, we have to leave _now_ ," Ed told her, tugging insistently on her skirt. "The alchemist is coming."

Trisha nodded, nudging Ed forward slightly. "Go get your brother and head outside. I need to grab something and then I'll meet you there in a minute."

Ed nodded and then sprinted into the next room, yelling for his brother. Trisha kept her eyes fixed on the doorway, listening for the sound of the back door slamming. Her ruby eyes welled with tears, shoulders shaking as she silently cried for all that her boys would have to face without her. The world would be a terrible place for two young, half Ishvalan children, even in a world where the order calling for the massacre of all with Ishvalan blood was rescinded, as she knew that it inevitably would. They would struggle just to survive, but Trisha was convinced that any future where her boys might survive would be better than one where they were murdered here, burned alive as a punishment for a crime they'd never committed, all because she was their mother.

She would not be escaping with them. Trisha knew that if she tried to run with the boys then they would all be killed. The alchemist might not stick around to see if anyone attempted to escape from the burning building, but the soldiers following him would be under orders to do so. They would notice that the well maintained Elric home, or what would be left of it, was mysteriously empty by either the lack of screaming or the missing stench of burning corpses and begin searching. Meanwhile, with two small boys in tow, Trisha would not make it far enough to escape the sweeps. The three of them would be shot and killed, their bodies left to rot in the scorching sun. Instead of condemning her sons to that fate, Trisha would remain behind. She would die, leaving her corpse behind to convince the military not to look any closer, and her boys would survive. Maybe they would even stumble across their wayward father one their journey away from Ishval. A bittersweet smile crossing her tear streaked face as she imagined her boys and their father back together again, Trisha turned to face her fate.

A wave of heat made china rattle on the walls and shattered every glass window. The door exploded, splinters having a brief moment to sink into her skin before the flames washed over her. For a brief instant, Trisha felt agonizing pain. Then her awareness drifted away as her charred corpse crumpled to the floor of her blazing home, dissolving into nothing more than ash. Far behind the house, scrambling up a sand dune, two boys froze at the sudden sound. Ed and Al Elric turned and caught sight of the blaze that had once been their home. There was no sign of their mother and, in that moment, they both understood that they were now truly alone. "Mom?" Al whimpered, watery gold eyes focused on the house as his older brother struggled to hold in tears. He would cry later, when they were far away from the foreigners trying to kill them.

"Al, come on. We have to go," Ed insisted, steeling himself and stumbling to his feet. One hand latched onto his younger brother's arm and he tugged, trying to get Al to move.

"But what about Mom?" the younger boy protested, gold eyes welling with tears that hadn't yet spilled over.

"Mom's gone," Ed replied. "And we will be too if we don't hurry."

"We can't just leave her there," Al practically wailed and his older brother cringed, half expecting to see Amestrian soldiers coming after them when he cast a furtive glance down the slope of sand they were perched near the top of.

"We'll go back later, when the soldiers are gone," Ed said, knowing that they would do no such thing and, even if they did, that there would be no body left for them to recover. "If we stay here we're going to die." He tried to tug Al forward again but his little brother seemed frozen in place, red eyes fixed on the blazing wreckage of their childhood home. Ed slumped in the sand, staring miserably at the smoke rising from the town, and then felt a wave of dread wash over him when he noticed there was a single figure standing down the street from the Elric home. He or she was on top of a hill and although it was too far to know for sure, Ed was positive that they were looking right at them. Cold despite the intense heat of the sun, Ed scrambled to his feet and tugged on his little brother's arm again. "Al, _please_ ," he begged, sounding so desperate that his brother actually listened. The two of them stumbled to their feet, slipping and sliding over the sandy ridge before tumbling down the valley between the dune they'd been on and the one after it. No one followed, but they ran like all the devils that Ishvala had vanquished were nipping at their heels.


	2. Episode One: Cold Hearted

_Episode One: Cold Hearted  
_

The night was dark and the wind coming in off the river carried a distinct chill with it. Fifteen year old Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, wrapped his coat more firmly around his shoulders, pulled his hood back into place, and kept walking. He had an appointment to keep and most of the Amestrian military didn't take too kindly to have a half Ishvalan alchemist show up late to report for duty. In the beginning Ed had balked at the unfairness of that attitude, especially after seeing Amestrian alchemists wander in an hour late to their posts without anyone batting an eyelash but he'd quickly recognized the futility of his complaints. That didn't mean that Ed accepted the unfair treatment. It just meant that he found better ways to rebel against it than being late.

Trailing just a step behind the teen was a bulky looking suit of armor. Each step it took made a clanking sound that bounced off the block stone walls of the houses surrounding them. Ed didn't seem to notice the constant noise, instead focusing on navigating the dark streets. He and his companion had just returned from a state issued mission into a distant village where someone had reported missing pets and feral chimeras. The pair had spent several long days tracking down the alchemist who'd been stealing people's pets, turning them into chimeras, and unleashing the creatures on the town before stumbling back to East to report in to their superior officer.

When they'd been children and Order 3066 was still in effect, even the thought of having a part-Ishvalan state alchemist had been absurd. It still was, to most people. Very few outside of those who kept the military records or dealt with Fullmetal personally knew that he was half Ishvalan. Even fewer knew that his little brother Alphonse, who was contained in the suit of armor trailing after his brother, was also half Ishvalan. Al normally said that having his identity hidden by the suit of armor was a gift, but Ed didn't believe him, even on the best of days. They'd always bore their Ishavalan heritage with pride when living with Winry Rockbell and her grandmother in Resembool. They had survived Order 3066, though they had lost much, and were among the small number who had escaped the state ordered massacre of their people. Because of that, the coloring they had inherited from their mother had been displayed as a badge of honor. That the Gate had taken that badge away from Al was yet another thing on a long list that of struggles that Ed could feel guilty about.

"Shouldn't we be reporting to Colonel Mustang?" Al questioned as Ed turned away from Central's military headquarters, making his way down another dark alley.

"We can report in after breakfast so that the Bastard doesn't have time to send us out before the train leaves for Liore," Ed replied sourly, pace speeding up slightly.

To say that Edward Elric and Roy Mustang had a rocky working relationship was an understatement. Mustang was the Flame Alchemist, the Hero of Ishval who had burned thousands of Ishvalans to death, and Ed had witnessed that devastation first hand. They had adapted over time, their fear fading with extended exposure to the man, but Ed wouldn't go as far as to say that he had become fond of his superior officer. Fond was Al's job. Ed just barely tolerated Mustang, throwing insults at the man at every opportunity while trying not to vomit every time he looked at the older alchemist's gloves. "We could get in serious trouble if we wait that long," Al protested, breaking his brother's train of thought.

"We get into trouble everywhere we go. What's a little more?"

" _Brother_ ," Al groaned, but his protest was cut off when they rounded a corner to see a man in a brown coat and dark hair pulled back with a tie at the nape of his neck, a single strand escaping to fall over his face. The second of two men in military blue uniforms who'd been standing in trench coat man's way crumpled limply to the ground.

"Water freezes, water boils. Either way, you're just as dead" the man muttered and Ed growled softly at his younger brother's side. They'd been warned that the Freezing Alchemist had been sighted when they'd checked in with Central Command, long before they'd known Colonel Mustang had been summoned there from East by the Fuhrer, so they had prepared themselves for the possibility that there might be casualties, but to hear the man so casually dismiss taking a life infuriated Ed.

"Careful, Brother," Al warned as Ed clapped his hands together, creating his own weapon out of their surroundings.

"I'm always careful," was Ed's reply and he hurled the spear at the Freezing Alchemist before stalking after it, leaving his little brother to circle around as softly as he could in order to keep the rogue alchemist from escaping them.

"That's alchemy," Ed heard the man murmur, staring intently at the spear embedded between the thick paving stones in the street.

"What a nasty thing to do," Ed sneered, stomping out of the shadows. Subtlety might have taken the Freezing Alchemist in without much of a fight, but it also could cost more soldiers their lives. Besides, Ed was never one for being subtle unless he absolutely had to.

"You of all people should know, great deeds require great sacrifice. Isn't that the Law of Equivalent Exchange?" The man's green eyes had taken on an almost fanatical light by the end and Ed's fingers twitched as he resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

"Save your breath," Ed spat. "The laws of alchemy don't justify murder." He clapped, blue lightning crackling in slim flashes of light around his fingers as he reached over and pulled the spear from the ground, transmuting it into something that would be more serviceable for close combat; a spiked club.

"No transmutation circle," the man gasped, eyes widening as he spit out of the first of several revelations most people came to when they first met Ed.

"Don't be too impressed," he spat back before lunging forward. " _Now!"_

Al attacked seconds before his older brother, the Freezing Alchemist ducking under one blow and blocking the second with the metal covering over one arm. Then the rogue alchemist returned with his own blows, the crackle and flash of alchemy sparking over Ed's automail arm and partially shredding the fabric of his red coat. He ducked under Al's next blow and then stared with astonishment at Ed. "No, I had you! Any water there should have boiled," he yelled, leaning forward as if he was trying to see what had gone wrong.

"If it's any consolation, you ruined my coat," Ed hissed back, lifting his automail arm with the coat hanging off it in tatters to prove his point.

"An automail arm," the Freezing Alchemist breathed as Ed tossed his coat aside to save it from further damages. "A young, gifted alchemist, one who doesn't use transmutation circles, has an automail right arm, and red eyes. I know who you are. You are the Ishvalan who sold his soul and his dignity to the Amestrian military in exchange for the title of Fullmetal Alchemist."

"I didn't sell my soul," Ed snarled, clapping his hands and slamming them to the ground. "Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this." Stones from the ground and walls of the building stretched out to trap the Freezing Alchemist in place, leaving only his slightly squished face in view.

"I heard the stories, but I hadn't imagined this," the man said, voice coming out a little pinched and in a nasal tone since he couldn't move his jaw much to speak. "The Fullmetal Alchemist is an Ishvalan runt who's allowed himself to be controlled by our glorious government."

"Don't call me little!" Ed all but shrieked, shoving all his frustration at the older alchemist's words into a clap and a stone fist that shattered the trap he'd created, sending the man flying backwards. The rogue alchemist's eyes were likely widened over what part of his taunting Ed had reacted to rather than the hit he'd just received. Most enemies Ed had faced since becoming a state alchemist focused their taunts on his Ishvalan heritage, clued into it by his red eyes and the rumors that had run amok after his entrance trials, but the young alchemist would not allow himself to react to those jabs. Most people believed that Ishvalans were a violent, savage people, and Ed's reaction to their obvious scorn would only encourage that belief. He gained more by ignoring those jabs and reacting to more unexpected insults, such as people calling short.

The commotion drew other soldiers nearby to the scene, three of them hurrying to arrest the Freezing Alchemist while the fourth took in the scene before him. His eyes skimmed almost approvingly over the downed rogue alchemist and Al's armor protected soul before they fell on Ed's red eyes. His approval turned into a sneer. "The Fullmetal Alchemist," he said, hostility thick in every syllable. "Can't you do anything without making a mess?"

Ed gritted his teeth, only Al's worried hiss of "Brother, don't" keeping him from lashing out at the soldier. The alley wasn't in terrible shape after the struggle, especially considering all the damage he'd caused chasing after criminals and rogue alchemists in East, but arguing with this man, who'd taken one look at Ed's red eyes and decided to despise him, wouldn't change his opinion.

"Don't worry. We'll clean it up," Ed replied, tone a little sharper than was probably proper military professionalism. He narrowed his eyes at the man, deepening his scowl until he received a nod of acknowledgement.

The soldier turned stiffly to face his companions, snapping, "Let's take this troublemaker back to Central Command."

"But sir, shouldn't we be thanking the alchemist for capturing him?" one of the younger men said, round face wrinkling for confusion. Ed almost pitied the young soldier, watching as his superior turned a disdainful sneer on him.

" _Now_ , private."

"Yes sir," came the sharp response and the young soldier fell into position, casting a confused and vaguely worried glance over his shoulder at Ed and Al as he marched away with the others, the Freezing Alchemist in the middle.

"Good riddance," Ed muttered, turning his back on the retreating soldiers and seeking out his coat to repair it. He knelt next to the tatter sleeve, ignoring the tiny, disapproving sound Al made at that statement, and clapped his hands, blue lightning leaping from his fingers as the fabric wove itself back together. "Come on. Let's get this alley fixed before some other officer comes by and finds something else about my conduct to complain about."

" _Brother_ ," Al said and at first Ed thought he was being chided for his temper, again. Then he realized that the tone was too urgent to be chiding and he spun around only to get a face full of steam. He lifted his automail arm to shield his face from any possible debris as the rush of steam made his coat rustle and his braid flutter a little, as if caught in a strong breeze. When the steam cleared, the four soldiers were scattered across the ground and the Freezing Alchemist was nowhere in sight. "He's gone."

"Great," Ed muttered as he watched the soldiers groan and pick themselves up off the ground. "Colonel Mustang's going to be real happy about this."

Ed wasn't wrong about that, no matter how much he wished he would be. After a short, uncomfortable walk with four rather battered soldiers heading back empty handed to Central command, he and Al had found themselves in a borrowed office with their-well Ed's technically-commanding officer. "Looks like you underestimated your opponent, Fullmetal." Ed scowled, tired of people taking jabs at him today, especially since most of them were people he couldn't hit.

"If they hadn't insisted on Al and I cleaning up the minor cosmetic damage in that alley, maybe he wouldn't have gotten away." Ed paused a minute to let that sink in and then added, "Who is this guy anyway?"

"His name is Isaac McDougal, also called Isaac the Freezer. He's a former state alchemist who served in the Ishvalan war." Ed winced as Roy paced across the room to a small window, wondering if having the water in your veins frozen or boiled was better or worse than being burned alive. "During that time, he gave us no signs that he'd turn traitor. After the war, he immediately resigned his commission and went into hiding. He's been working with the anti-establishment group ever since. Taking him into custody is a matter of top priority. Whether it's dead or alive? That's up to him."

"No way I'm killing anyone for you," Ed muttered, folding his arms defensively over his chest.

"And that's your choice. Your orders are simply to help us contain him." Unsaid was the possibility that those orders could be changed later. "On an unrelated note, have you and your brother had any luck getting your bodies back?"

"We might have if you'd give us any time to look," Ed snapped, relaxing a bit now that he was in familiar territory. Arguing with Mustang over petty things was a common occurrence that Al had given up correcting ages ago when Ed had pointed out that arguing was better than trying to kill the man. Al hadn't been able to argue with that, so he'd let that particular topic of conversation go.

Before they could get further into bickering, the door burst open and an exuberant man in a blue uniform with mostly tidy dark hair and gleaming glasses called, "Roy, how goes? Heard you let 'em put you in charge of catching the Freezer, huh? One hell of a nasty assignment, but hey, it might be your chance to earn that promotion to Central." Ed watched Roy's shoulders bunch with each word the man said before he slumped with a disgruntled sounding sigh. Normally Hawkeye was the only one who got any kind of genuine reaction from the man, so it was interesting to see someone else do the same. Then the man's attention turned to Ed and Al. Ed abruptly understood Roy's reaction as the man exclaimed, "And it seems that I'm right on time. You two must be the Elric brothers!"

Ed's muscles bunched, prepared for flight, as the hurricane of a soldier swept further into the room, rushing forward to vigorously shake Al's hand. "Wow. It's an honor to meet the youngest state alchemist ever," the man gushed. "You're a legend around here. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, a pleasure." Ed found himself glad that Hughes was one of the people who mistook Al for the Fullmetal Alchemist. Normally he would have taken offense at that, but having that much energy directed at him rather unexpectedly might not have ended well.

"You want Edward Elric," Alphonse gently corrected once Hughes stopped shaking his hand. "I'm his younger brother, Alphonse."

"What? You're the Fullmetal Alchemist?" Hughes gasped, directing his attention towards Ed. "Sorry! I had no idea you'd be so..." Ed gritted his teeth, preparing for a range of unpleasantness from insults to his Ishvalan heritage to comments about his height.

He never got to find out the rest of Hughes comment because Mustang interrupted him, saying "Hughes."

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing here? Go home."

"Actually, I'm here on official business," Hughes said, hands resting on his hips. "You, Elrics. I heard you don't have a place to stay. You have to come with me." He dipped his hand into his coat and Ed tensed, startling slightly when a photograph was pulled out and shoved towards his face. "My wife, Gracia, and my daughter, Elicia," Hughes explained enthusiastically. "We'd love to have you."

Ed felt his eyebrows arch up towards his hairline at that. He and Al's half Ishvalan heritage often made it difficult for them to find a hotel to stay at during most of their travels. Having someone open their home to the brothers was an unprecedented event. "Are you sure about that?" Ed questioned skeptically, waiting expectantly for Hughes to rescind the offer.

"Of course I'm sure," Hughes replied, sounding positively chipper. "My family and I would love a chance to get to know you."

"If you're sure," Ed said hesitantly, glancing over at his little brother, who shrugged slightly.

"Excellent," was Hughes response as he clapped his hands enthusiastically together. "Grab your things and we'll head to my place. Gracia will have dinner on the table and I'm sure you're starving."

"...Yeah," Ed agreed quietly, not entirely sure what had just happened. He stood at the same time as Al and the two followed Hughes to the door, only pausing for Ed to grab his bag of meager personal belongings.

Hughes chattered brightly all the way to the car, hands waving excitedly as he gushed over his beautiful wife and daughter. Ed listened to it mutely, allowing his little brother to respond to any comments directed towards them, while his mind raced over the events of the evening. He knew that the sooner he and Al helped track down and catch the Freezing Alchemist, the sooner they could be on the next train to Liore. The boys had purchased tickets to that particular town after hearing rumors about a man who could transmute objects seemingly out of thin air. They both knew that performing such feats with alchemy was impossible, unless the man had managed to get his hands on a Philosopher's Stone. The only way to find out if the rumors were people fooled by slight of hand or the genuine article was to see for themselves, and they wouldn't be able to do that if they were trapped in Central tracking down an obnoxious, anti-establishment rogue alchemist.

The car pulled to a stop in front of a city brownstone, lights twinkling between the gaps in heavy curtains hung over several of the windows. "We're heading for the second floor," Hughes cheerfully informed them as he all but leaped from the car, tipping his hat thankfully towards their driver. Ed and Al followed less gracefully, Al because he barely fit into the car in the first place and Ed because he couldn't be bothered to try. The two of them trailed up the stairs and down a dimly lit hallway with wine red carpet that had been worn thin by the repetitive tread of feet over the years.

Hughes was just reaching a hand towards a door near the end of the hall when it was flung open and a tiny bundle of energy burst out squealing, "Daddy! Daddy!" The little girl bounced twice on her heels before launching herself into her father's waiting arms, pigtails flailing wildly.

"Hey pumpkin," Hughes said, spinning her around as she shrieked with delight. Behind them, silhouetted by the light inside the apartment a woman with her brown hair in a bob smiled at their antics.

"Maes, aren't you going to introduce us to our guests?" she chided gently, tone fond.

"Ah, of course," Hughes said, beaming at her. "Edward, Alphonse, this is my lovely wife, Gracia, and my fabulous daughter, Elicia. Gracia, Elicia, these are the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Gracia said, turning her soft smile on the two boys. "Won't you come in?"

"Thank you so much for having us," Al said as they stepped inside, Hughes trailing behind them as he listened to his daughter talk about her day.

"It's always wonderful to have guests," was Gracia's response. "And we wouldn't want two young men such as yourselves to wander around Central trying to find a place to stay when we have a perfectly good guest room."

"Still, we appreciate this," Al said and Ed nodded, giving the woman his best grateful smile.

"Are the two of you hungry?" Gracia questioned after dipping her head in acknowledgement of their thanks. "I can set more places for dinner."

"I would appreciate that," Ed said awkwardly, glancing over at Al to silently ask his little brother for help. Tact had never been one of Ed's strong points, not that he tried most days, and he didn't want to upset their host.

"I am unable to eat in my current state," Al said. "But I appreciate the offer."

"Would you like me to at least pull up another chair?" Gracia asked, not pressing for details. Ed found himself respecting her for that alone. Maybe staying the night with the Hughes family wouldn't be as stressful as he thought.

"That would be wonderful," Al replied.

"Give me a moment to pull out a couple more chairs," she told them before turning to her husband. "Maes, please go set another place at the table, and make sure there is room for two more chairs."

"Anything for you," was Hughes' sappy reply as he carried his daughter into the kitchen.

"You two, come with me," Gracia told the brothers. "I'll show you where you'll be sleeping and then we'll eat."

"Thank you," Ed and Al said at the same time, and Gracia lifted a slim hand to hide the corner of her smile, eyes sparkling. A small huff of laughter escaped her as she walked by them, Ed and Al trailing after her like lost, stray puppies who'd been coaxed in with the promise of something to eat.

She pushed open a door at the far end of the apartment, revealing a tidy room with a single bed, a nightstand, and a wooden chair, saying "I can pull a cot out of storage if the two of you need it."

"Don't worry about it," Al reassured her.

"Alright. I'll give you two a moment to get settled while I pull out a couple more chairs for the table." She turned to leave and then hesitated in the doorway, adding "If you need anything, just ask." Then she headed back the direction she had come, leaving Ed and Al alone in the guest bedroom, giving them a moment to gather themselves before rejoining the cheerful chaos that was Maes Hughes and his young daughter.


	3. Chapter Two: Enter the Fuhrer

_Chapter Two: Enter the Fuhrer_

Morning found Ed and Al, along with dozens of other soldiers, searching the streets of Central under the command of Colonel Mustang. The Freezing Alchemist had broken into Central Prison during the night, killing several of the guards, and the fact that he hadn't bothered to hide his tracks had Mustang's metaphorical hackles up. Orders that came directly from the Fuhrer gave soldiers permission to shoot the Freezing Alchemist on sight, and Mustang had looked like he'd been planning on utilizing his own particular brand of firepower to take down McDougal if he got the chance. Ed was probably one of the only people around, excluding his little brother, that wasn't planning on trying to kill the Freezing Alchemist on sight.

Ed pulled the hood of his coat up over his head, the shadow it cast over his face dimming the brilliant red of his eyes, when a couple of the soldiers passing by sneered at him. Most of the time he would have sneered back, but today he had more pressing concerns. The longer the Freezing Alchemist ran free, the more innocent bystanders died. "Get a medic! Hurry!" a voice yelled from down the street and Ed abruptly changed direction, marching towards the commotion. Al clanked along behind him, the two of them parting the river of soldiers rushing the other direction, some of them muttering that there had been five men killed already. The streets were, thankfully, cleared of civilians, so all the casualties so far had been limited to military personnel, like the steaming form slumped against the side of a brownstone. As far as Ed could tell, the man someone had called a medic for was already dead.

"Looks like a steam explosion," he murmured, keeping his distance. "Raise the temperature of water fast enough and it expands with the force of a bomb blast. The human body is seventy percent water." Al was considerate enough not to point out that Ed wasn't telling him anything new. Ed blew out a heavy breath, taking one last glance at the dead soldier before turning away. "Let's hurry. We have to find him before he hurts anyone else."

"Where are we going?" Al asked, waiting until they were a few feet away from the body and the growing crowd of concerned soldiers surrounding it to spring the question.

"I don't know," Ed admitted, stopping in the middle of the street. A couple of soldiers swore at him when they were forced to abruptly change course and speed march around the brothers, but Ed ignored them. All his attention was fixed on trying to figure out what the Freezing Alchemist was attempting to accomplish. If he could figure that out, he would be able to figure out where the rogue alchemist was heading next and there wouldn't be any more bodies lying on the pavement and steaming like they were burning from the inside out. Ed gagged for a moment, practically tasting smoke and burning flesh on his tongue. He sucked in a shuddering breath, the weight of Al's armored hand helping to shake the image free. "Come on, _think_ ," he muttered, pressing a clenched fist against his forehead.

He and Al's previous encounter with the Freezing Alchemist had been in one of Central's back alleyways. The man had looked like he'd been hurrying away from something. Ed had thought that it had been because soldiers had been pursuing McDougal, but that couldn't have been right because every soldier who had shown up on the scene had been in front of the other alchemist. That mean that the Freezing Alchemist had been in the alley for a completely different reason. Ed grinned in triumph. "Come on, Al. I know where we need to go."

The alley from the night before was part of the way across town, and the brothers were sprinting in that direction when a massive explosion caught their attention. Water, dust, and chunks of rock pelted down from the sky, causing soldiers to scramble back or cover their heads. Several gasped or let out startled cries, caught off guard by the sudden, explosive violence. Ed skidded to a stop with a gasp of his own and then switched directions, Al clattering along at his heels.

Enough of the dust had settled by the time that they raced down the alley that they could both see Alex Louis Armstrong, who sparkled and cried over ridiculous things and who's alchemy involved punching things as hard as he could, facing off against the Freezing Alchemist. At least Armstrong still had his shirt on. " _Major!"_ Al yelled in concern and McDougal whirled to face them, flinging his open canteen into the air. Water laced with the blue lightning of alchemy turned to an explosive spray of steam and Al yanked Ed close, shielding his older brother with his metal frame. Footsteps thundered past them, the rogue alchemist making a break for it.

"Water from his canteen, huh?" Ed muttered as the steam cleared, lifting a fist to knock it twice on his brother's armor. "Thanks for the quick save, Al."

"Let's go. He's getting away," came the urgently reply from his little brother, who released Ed from his protective hold.

"After me, Elric brothers," Armstrong called, racing by them both in pursuit of the Freezing Alchemist.

"Wait!" Ed yelled after him, half expecting that Armstrong wouldn't listen.

Alex Armstrong stopped mid-step, one foot hanging several inches above the ground. "What is it?" he asked, expression serious.

"Even if we catch up to him, he'll just find a way to slip away again. He's got a bigger goal in mind than causing chaos and killing a handful of soldiers." Ed paused, forcefully relaxing his hands and resting them at his sides. "I don't think McDougal was running from soldiers last night when Al and I bumped into him. We were heading back to check it out before we noticed the explosion."

"Then we should go see what he was up to." Armstrong smiled like he'd been given a gift and led the way out of the alley, leaving someone else to clean up the mess that mostly consisted of stone effigies of only his head. "You there." The soldier Armstrong had grabbed by the arm jumped and turned to stare up at the major with wide eyes.

"Yes, sir?" he questioned, eyes darting between the dust still floating out of the recently abandoned alley and the massive, sparkling man in front of him.

"I need you to deliver a message to Colonel Mustang. Tell him that the Elrics are going to investigate the area where they had their first altercation with the Freezing Alchemist, and that I am coming with them. We'll report back to him at Central Command within the hour."

"Yes, sir!" came the rapid response and the man hurried away in search of someone that could direct him towards the colonel, leaving Ed, Al, and Armstrong free to pursue the only real lead they had.

At first glance, the alley was almost completely empty, some stray rubble still strewn about from the previous night's confrontation. Ed took a few steps into it, frowning as he searched for anything that looked out of place. He and Al hadn't spent much time in Central, mostly because prejudice against Ishvalans still rang strong through the city's population, but alleyways in most cities tended to have the same look to them. "What are we looking for?" Al asked, armor clicking a little as he stepped forward so he was still guarding his older brother's back.

"I'm not sure," Ed admitted, cautiously making his way deeper in. "Major Armstrong, did you notice anything unusual before you and McDougal started fighting?" Ed kicked a chunk of stone across the alley while he waited for a response, then frowned as it made one of the other chunks of rubble shift. White chalk lines were hidden underneath, curving smoothly into the shadows. The young alchemist missed Armstrong's response as he hurried forward to carefully shift away more of the rubble, revealing a transmutation circle.

Al knelt to help Ed clear away the rubble and Armstrong joined them a moment later, all of them being careful not to smudge the chalk as they worked. One smudged alchemy symbol could easily be mistaken for another one, which could change the entire purpose of the circle, and that would make it incredibly difficult to figure out what the Freezing Alchemist was trying to accomplish. Ed rocked back on his heels once the circle was uncovered, frowning at it. Most alchemists had a single specialty, McDougal's being ice, so Ed could automatically dismiss certain possible functions for it. It wasn't likely to make anything explode in a wave of fire or shatter every bit of stone in the surrounding area. In fact, it didn't look like the circle was meant to do anything destructive. Ed strongly suspected that it was meant to create a wall out of ice, though he couldn't tell for sure without activating it.

"Do either of you have any idea why the Freezer would want to block off this alley?" he questioned, glancing at his companions. "Is he planning on keeping soldiers from tracking him down once he's accomplished whatever he came here to do or is he planning on cutting somebody off?"

"Or it could be a part of something bigger," Al suggested. "McDougal has yet to actually finish a fight, so he could have a larger plan in place."

Several streets away a church bell tolled, marking off the hour. Amestris didn't have many churches left, but the few that remained faithfully counted out the hours every day, as if to remind people that they still existed. "We need to return to Central Command soon, or the colonel may send soldiers to find us," Armstrong said and Ed grimaced.

"Ordinarily I'd say forget Colonel Bastard, but I don't think we'll find anything else here," he said. "Right, Al?"

"Yeah," Al agreed. "Maybe the colonel will have an idea about what McDougal's planning on doing with the circle."

"Yeah. Maybe," Ed muttered, stomping out of the alley ahead of his little brother and Major Armstrong. The train to Liore that Ed and Al had originally planned to get on had left hours ago and they were no closer to actually catching the Freezing Alchemist than they had been the night before. The situation was not helped by Mustang's unexpected, and unwanted, arrival in Central. Part of the point of going from their last mission to Central to Liore had been to avoid reporting in to the colonel, so Ed had been less than pleased when he and Al had received orders from the Fuhrer placing them at Mustang's disposal until McDougal was taken care of.

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was waiting for them outside of Central Command, as poised and expressionless as usual. "The colonel is waiting for you," she said when they approached, eyes scanning over them all as if searching for injuries.

"We know," Ed grumbled but Hawkeye had already turned away, sparing him from her disapproving frown.

The sea of soldiers parted for the blonde First Lieutenant. None of them were apparently brave enough to block her from her destination, even temporarily. Ed didn't blame them. Hawkeye could be terrifying, even when she wasn't trying to be. With the intimidating blonde leading the way, they made it to the empty office that was Mustang's current home base in a surprisingly short amount of time. The colonel was pacing behind the heavy wooden desk, but he jerked to a stop the instant Hawkeye stepped inside, clearing her throat and immediately catching his attention.

"Have you found anything?" Mustang demanded, resting gloved hands on the desk. Ed could practically see the agitation rolling off the Flame Alchemist. His mouth was suddenly dry and what was left of his survival instinct was making him consider getting out of the room as fast as possible. Hawkeye cleared her throat again and Mustang seemed to wilt a little under her gaze. Ed breathed out and resolved to do something nice for her the next time he and Al were in East City before turning his focus towards giving his report. The sooner he finished filling the colonel in on everything that they found out, the sooner he could get away from someone who could easily burn him alive.

Ed swallowed, taking a moment to flatten out his expression from mild anxiety to irritation as he organized everything he'd learned in the past hour. Alex Armstrong had apparently noticed the awkwardness and beat Ed to the punch, launching into an explanation without hesitation. "The Elrics discovered that the Freezer drew a transmutation circle in the alley where they encountered him last night," he said. "Edward here believes that it's meant to create some sort of ice wall."

"An ice wall," Mustang muttered, expression distant. "What for?"

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be here reporting to you, Colonel Bastard," Ed snapped, finding his voice. "McDougal will probably be back to activate it tonight, which means we have a chance to actually catch him."

"I doubt the Freezer will be going back to his transmutation circle," was Mustang's smug reply. "We've found out that McDougal is planning an assassination attempt on the Fuhrer. Soldiers will be waiting for him in the area surrounding the Fuhrer's home. Fullmetal, you will be stationed with soldiers on the ground, along with Alphonse and Major Armstrong, in case McDougal decides to travel through alleyways. If you encounter him, you may deal with him as you see fit. I will be with the troops on the rooftop. When McDougal arrives, we'll be ready for him."

"I think you're making a big mistake," Ed warned, but didn't protest the orders further. The colonel might not have looked as worked up as he had been earlier, but Ed was unwilling to push matters. Instead he and Al would just hang back near the transmutation circle, so if McDougal did circle back to it they would be ready to act.

By the time nightfall arrived, Ed was fairly certain that they were missing something important. Mustang had claimed that someone had filled the military in on McDougal's plans, and considering that the prison had been broken into the previous night, the informant could only be whoever the rogue alchemist had gone to speak to. While they may have given the military the Freezing Alchemist's main goal, Ed doubted that the informant could have known about the transmutation circle, or any other nasty little surprise that might be around any corner. No one would tell their full plan to someone they weren't sure was going to help them. At least not until they got a definite commitment.

A massive explosion of smoke, sparks, and water from a nearby rooftop drew Ed's attention away from his thoughts. He tilted his head back and watched a bridge of ice form between two buildings, tracing the path with a frown. McDougal was headed towards the alley were he'd fought with Armstrong earlier in the day. If he was heading back there, then it meant the rogue alchemist had left something important to his goals behind before Armstrong had even shown up. "Come on, Al," Ed called, already sprinting in the same direction the Freezing Alchemist had gone.

"What's the plan?" Al asked as soon as he caught up, armor rattling a little with each step.

"We need to split up. You circle around one end of the alley and I'll block off his escape route from the other end. With any luck, we'll be able to stop him before he sets his actual plan in motion."

Al nodded and split away from his older brother down an alley, leaving Ed to finish the sprint alone. He slowed his pace to a rapid walk a few feet away, hoping that his footsteps wouldn't give him away before the Freezer even saw him. Ed preferred to be the one surprising his opponents. Being surprised typically made for a much more difficult fight, and resulted in a lot more property damage. That, in turn, annoyed the colonel and generally made Ed's life a lot more irritating.

"It's still here." The Freezing Alchemist's voice hissed out of the alley in a pleased whisper, making Ed grin. He stepped carefully into the mouth of the alley, eyes skimming over the transmutation circle, which was an exact copy of the one he and Al had found earlier, before settling on McDougal. "Perfect," the man muttered and Ed's eyes narrowed. Were the transmutation circles linked somehow? If so, then Ed really didn't want to find out what it did when it was activated.

"Stop right there," he demanded, drawing the man's attention. "I was wondering why you were headed back towards this alley so I decided to come check it out, and bingo."

McDougal chuckled and stood as Al stepped into view at the other end of the alley, blocking the man's other escape route. "There's nowhere to run this time," Ed's little brother warned, but McDougal didn't seem worried about that.

"Clearly," he replied, casually spreading his arms. "But who's running?"

The transmutation circle glowed red under his feet, lightning crackling around the edges before surging upwards and painted the sky with red light. Other columns quickly joined the first, confirming Ed's suspicions that the circles had been linked. The only real question was how he was managing to activate them all from where he was standing. Was it something in the drawing of the circles, or had McDougal somehow come across a Philosopher's Stone? Ice crackled across the stones, reminding Ed that he could worry about that later. Right now, he had more pressing concerns.

"Edward Elric." The rogue alchemist's voice was disdainful the wall of ice behind him glowing blue and red, illuminating his form like sunlight through a stained glass window. "You've sworn you life to the state as a dog of the military, but do you really know the people you serve? Do you understand what they're capable of?"

"I think I know better than most," Ed replied darkly, hands clenching into fists. The chill surrounding him as McDougal continued to freeze the water in the air kept him focused in the moment, which was probably the only good thing about the current situation.

"Right. _Ishval_ ," the man sneered. "Thousands of your people slaughtered over one little misunderstanding. Our leaders would do that again in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. They'll lead us all to ruin. I'm only doing what needs to be done."

"And I don't care," Ed snapped back, swallowing back bile. His mind shrieked in rebellion against the lie in that statement as Al came flying over the ice barrier, distracting the Freezer. Ed did care about what had happened in Ishval, but the military had given him the resources to help get Al's body back, so he couldn't afford to care. Not now. Al kicked the rogue alchemist hard and Ed darted aside as the man went flying past him to crash into the railing that lined the nearby canal. "Alright. Nice workout." Ed grinned at his brother, who hurried over to join him.

"But we still have to stop his alchemy," Al protested, voice worried.

"I know." Ed turned on McDougal. "Where is it? You have a Philosopher's Stone, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" the man questioned, a smug smile planting itself on his face.

"I won't ask again. Where is it?"

"And what are you going to do, boy?" the Freezing Alchemist challenged. "You're out of your league."

Water in the canal rose up behind him in a quickly freezing tower, carrying the rogue alchemist away as it continued to grow. Ed and Al took off sprinting, the older brother silently cursing himself for not realizing his mistake and getting McDougal away from the water before this could happen. Armstrong was at the end of the street, staring down the growing glacier as if he could sparkle it into submission. "Stand back and prepare for a display of Armstrong alchemy," he yelled, bracing himself as Ed and Al sprinted by him.

"It's all yours, Major," Ed called back, only turning around when he saw the flashing light of alchemy. He spun around in time to see the glacier slice through a building like it was made of tissue paper, only a massive dent and a sudden change in direction showing that Armstrong had accomplished anything.

"That's unexpected," Armstrong rumbled, sounding a little bemused by the new development.

"What the heck are you doing?" Ed demanded indignantly, voiceless disbelief quickly banished. "You're making it worse!"

"I was merely..." Armstrong began to explain before a crash and a cloud of dust cut him off. Another ice wall had merged with the first and was racing towards Central Command, still growing as it moved.

"The ice walls," Al gasped.

"They're merging," Ed finished for his brother.

"But," Al said, voice wavering anxiously. "That would mean..." Ed swallowed hard, not blaming his little brother for trailing off.

"If they'll all meet in the middle..." Ed trailed off, mind racing ahead of his mouth. "Ah, damn it! It's Central Command. He's going to freeze it over." Al's voice chimed in with him at the end, full of horror, and Ed turned to face Armstrong again. "Major, Al and I will try to slow him down. Can you handle the transmutation circles?"

"Consider them erased," was Armstrong's reply. "I'm on it." Ed nodded once in thanks and then took off sprinting, knowing he and Al had to reach a high point so they could get on top of one of the ice walls and catch up to McDougal.

"Over there!" Al yelled, pointing towards a fire escape creeping up the side of a brownstone, and Ed grinned.

"Good call."

The two of them scrambled up the ladder and jumped onto the ice wall, sprinting down it in the direction McDougal had gone. They could see the man riding at the head of one of the glaciers, gaze fixed on Central Command. "Fuhrer King Bradley," McDougal intoned, as if reading a sentence handed down to him by a jury. "For your cold blooded crimes in Ishval, I condemn you to a frozen hell."

"Not so fast," Ed yelled, pushing himself faster in an effort to keep up with the man. McDougal's hands smacked down on the ice immediately, crumbling it, but Ed wasn't faze as he clapped his own hands and returned the favor, shouting "two can play that game!" McDougal was sent flying backwards as the ice under his feet crumbled, but transmuted one of the chunks into water that doused them before creating his own personal set of stairs so he could race over to attack the two.

"Brother!" Al yelled, grabbing Ed and jerking him back, trying to pull him out of danger.

"Too slow," McDougal taunted, hand connecting with Al's helmet.

A blast of steam had the helmet, and Al, flying backwards as Ed yelled his little brother's name in concern. Logically he knew that the only way to harm Al was to destroy the blood seal that kept his soul in place, but that didn't stop him from worrying every time something like this happened. McDougal stepped forward, trying to get a better look at his accomplishment, and almost got kicked in the face by an unfazed Al as the two brothers regained their feet. "There's no one in there," the Freezing Alchemist said, eyes going wide with shock. "It's empty." Ed ignored the man, crouching to pick up Al's helmet while McDougal muttered, "That...That can only be true if his soul was bonded to the armor." His eyes narrowed suddenly. "So you lost your arm. And your brother, he lost his entire body."

The Freezer grinned, smiled wide and manic, and Ed realized that this conversation was about to get incredibly uncomfortable. "I see. It all makes sense," the man said as Al fixed his helmet back in place. "You fools committed the ultimate taboo. You attempted human transmutation, didn't you? Two lonely little Ishvalan kids got their hands on some Amestrian alchemy books and tried to bring the dead back to life, alchemy's one and only unforgivable sin."

Ed's head dropped for a moment with the weight of memory, stomach churning with guilt. That foolish attempt had cost him a leg, but it had cost Al everything and Ed wasn't going to stop until he'd made that right. "You know," he murmured. "There are some lines you really shouldn't cross." Then he lunged forward and punched McDougal in the gut, following that up with a two handed blow to the man's neck. McDougal crashed to the ground, ice crackling as it lunged forward in spikes that Ed reared back to dodge, flipping out of the way to allow Al to counter attack. His brother chopped the ice in half and then kicked McDougal, sending him toppling down the side of the now stagnant glacier.

The two followed, gliding down the side to stop gracefully in front of the Freezer. "Give it up," Ed demanded, voice cold. "There's no water for you to use here."

"You've forgotten something," came the reply as McDougal pushed himself up on one arm. "I have all the water I need. Seventy percent of my body." Ed reeled back at that, eyes widening just before two frozen spikes of the Freezing Alchemist's blood stabbed him in the arm and shoulder. He hissed in pain as Al chopped them apart, keeping his eyes on McDougal, who was stumbling to his feet. "Why can't you fools understand? I'm trying to save this country, and you should be helping me, if for no other reason than because of what happened in Ishval. " Ice crept up the wall behind McDougal and he cackled, stumbling away towards the center of the city.

"Brother, are you okay?" Al asked as Ed lifted a hand to the frozen blood still lodged in his shoulder.

"Come on," he muttered, yanking out the ice and stumbling to his feet. "We're going after him. I'm not done. Not even close." Al, thanks be to Ishvala, didn't argue. Instead his little brother silently helped him up, the two of them hurrying after McDougal.

They rounded the corner in time to see McDougal rush towards none other than the Fuhrer himself, a spear made of frozen blood in hand. The Fuhrer was completely calm as he stared at his attacker, not shifting an inch. Ed didn't see the man move, but he did see McDougal collapse in a fountain of blood, crashing down to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The Fuhrer stood, sword in hand and utterly unmoved by what had just happened as blood pooled around his feet. Ed stared at the man with wide eyes, chest heaving a little as he struggled to catch his breath and one hand clutching his injured shoulder to staunch the flow of blood. "Fuhrer Bradley," he breathed out, the words half surprise and half fear as the soldiers that had heard the commotion scrambled into the alley behind them. "You're here?"

"Ah yes," Bradley said, face relaxing into a pleased smile as he sheathed his sword. "Job well done, Fullmetal. I came out to see if I could lend a hand, and to think that I'd actually be the one to catch him. If nothing else, this will make an exciting story for my son." His gaze skimmed to Ed's shoulder and he added, "You should probably get that looked at."

"Yes, sir," Ed agreed, eager to get away the man who had ordered the extermination of his people. The two of them backed out of the alley, hurrying through the throng of soldiers that were trying to get a look at what had happened. "Come on, Al," Ed murmured. "Let's get my arm patched up so we can get on the next train to Liore and find out if there's a Philosopher's Stone there." He didn't add that the sooner they got away from the Fuhrer and out of Central City, the happier he would be, and Al, being the kind brother that he was, didn't call Ed on that. Instead he focused his attention on finding them a ride to the nearest hospital, threatening to carry his older brother if Ed even thought about trying to walk there. Miles away, lounging in the top of a church tower, a woman in a low cut dress, dark hair dripping down her shoulders like water, picked up a phone on the first ring and smiled.


	4. Chapter Three: The Sun God

_Chapter Three: The Sun God  
_

Liore was sweltering compared to Central, warm wind tugging at Ed's braid and making the plume on Al's helmet wave cheerily behind him. People dressed in loose clothing hurried through their errands as the blazing sun began to sink towards the nearby mountains, more than one of them pausing to gossip about the miracles someone had seen Father Cornello perform. That gossip was what had drawn the Elrics' attention towards Liore in the first place. It was started with a couple vague whispers about a man of the church who'd appeared almost overnight in the distant town. Ed and Al had dismissed the whisper then, not interested in what the largely defunct Amestrian church was up to. Those rumors had been followed months later by stories of miracles. The first couple had been little, easy to dismiss things, basic transmutations that even a child could do. The ones that followed after were harder to ignore, and eventually they'd been enough to draw the Elrics in.

The locals didn't glance twice at the brothers, Ed's darker than average skin tones blending in with the suntanned skin of the people around them. Ed was relieved about that. After the mess in Central with the Freezing Alchemist it was nice to be able to wander around without being scowled at or insulted for their ethnic heritage. That they were so overlooked at the moment would allow them to blend in with the crowds that likely gathered to see Cornello perform miracles. If Cornello was pulling off some kind of con and knew that a state alchemist was around, he might decide to cancel his little show and skip town, and that was the last thing Ed and Al wanted.

The bell in the church tower rang, the sound echoing off houses and drawing everyone towards the church like it was a magnet. Ed and All allowed themselves to be pulled along by the crowd, who chatted excitedly like it was a festival day. The older Elric brother was vaguely reminded of celebrations in Ishval during his childhood, when people gathered together to here a recital of Ishvala's great works in front of the temple, but Ed pushed those memories aside. He needed to be focusing on what was going on in the present if he and Al were going to figure out what was actually going on in Liore. The crowd jostled them as people shoved towards the front, eager to take a look at their so called savior. A little girl was lifted onto her father's shoulders so she could see the stage and a couple boys that appeared to be a couple years younger than Al jumped in an attempt to see over the adults in front of them. Ed was forced to stand on top of his suitcase to see over the crowd so he could keep an eye on what was going on. Voices grew louder and louder, practically shouting over one another to be heard as they waited impatiently. Some grew agitated, hands waving emphatically and fingers jabbing pointedly towards chests.

The crowd seemed to be seconds from exploding into some sort of brawl when pink blossoms dropped down from the sky, fluttering around the front of the church like delicate butterflies. The crowd fell silent, all heads turning to face the front, as Father Cornello stepped into view. He was a tall man, though nowhere near as tall as Armstrong, with bushy white eyebrows and what appeared to be a little bit of extra weight around his middle, although that could have been an illusion created by his clothing. His black robe hung almost limply from broad shoulders and he was beaming towards the crowd, revealing gleaming white teeth. A few of the petals slid off the top Cornello's bald head, drifting to join the others on the ground.

The crowd cheered as Cornello caught a full flower in his palm, cupping his hands together near his face. Red light flared around his palms, and when it cleared the adoring shrieking from crowd grew louder as the petal turned into a silver sash with a massive red, ribbon flower on it that. An identical flower appeared on the statue behind him, obscuring most of it from view. Cornello spread his hands to reveal his creation to all, smiling benevolently down at the crowd. "So that's it, huh?" Ed said, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "What do you think?"

"There's nothing to think," Al replied. "That's alchemy, no doubt about it."

"But somehow he's ignoring the Law of Equivalent Exchange. He should have only been able to transmute that flower into an object of equal mass."

"But he's changing organic matter into inorganic matter. He shouldn't be able to do that." Ed nodded, agreeing silently with his younger brother. Cornello shouldn't have been able to transmute a flower into two flowers made out of shiny ribbons. It went against one of the few inflexible rules of alchemy.

"There's just one way he could do that." Ed leaned forward, ignoring the wobbling of the suitcase beneath his feet, and strained to see the minute details in Cornello's apparel. There was only one thing in the world rumored to allow its bearer to break the Law of Equivalent Exchange, and anyone who'd managed to procure one wouldn't be likely to let it out of their sight. Cornello lifted a hand and sunlight flashed off a golden ring, making the red stone set in it blindingly bright. "Bingo," Ed breathed, a sly grin curving his lips upwards. Then he almost toppled to the ground because the quickly dispersing crowd jostled his suitcase. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" he shrieked after the man who'd knocked him over into Al's waiting arms like he was some kind of damsel in distress.

" _Brother_ ," Al chided, managing to sound exasperated and fond at the same time while several people in the crowd turned to stare at them. Ed huffed and folded his arms over his chest but obligingly stopped yelling. In exchange for his rather petulant silence, Al carefully placed Ed back on the ground.

"We need to go talk to Father Cornello," Ed said, leaving Al to grab the suitcase as he started to push through the crowd.

"Shouldn't we call Colonel Mustang first?" Al protested, trailing after him with the suitcase in hand.

"If we report in, Mustang will just use it as an excuse to send us wander around the countryside search for bandits or something equally stupid instead of letting us finish up here."

"But if we don't report in, we could get into serious trouble," Al said, reaching out a gauntlet to stop his older brother in his tracks. "They could remove you from the position of state alchemist."

"They wouldn't if I was Amestrian," Ed muttered bitterly, allowing Al to steer him back the way they had came in search of a phone.

"Probably not," Al agreed, voice free of any resentment he might feel.

"It's not fair." Ed knew he was whining and he clamped his mouth shut, preventing the rest of his rant from escape. If word somehow got back to Central that Edward Elric was complaining about the government's standard policies, then even Mustang's slick manipulations wouldn't be able to keep Ed employed.

"I know." Al's voice was soft as he kept pace behind Ed, head bowed. Ed felt guilt twist his stomach into knots. He hadn't meant to remind Al that, even when they got his body back, life would be difficult for them.

"That's okay," he said with forced cheer, turning a smile towards his little brother. "We'll just work on changing that once we get your body back."

"And your arm and leg," Al added, voice brightening a little. One little brother successfully distracted. "Hey, I think I see a phone over there."

"Lead the way," Ed said, knowing there was no getting out of that phone call now. He wasn't particularly looking forward to the coming conversation. He and Al had slipped out of Central at sunrise while Mustang was still busy cleaning up what was left of Isaac the Freezer's mess. Ed had conveniently forgotten to mention to anyone where they were going, or even that they were leaving, so the Colonel would be none too happy on the other end of the line.

"East City Military Dispatch," a bright female voice said after the second ring. "How can I assist you today?"

"You can connect me to Colonel Mustang's office," Ed replied sourly.

"And who, may I ask, is calling to speak to him?"

"Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." Ed rattled off his official identification number afterwords and tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for the dispatcher to compare the number he'd told her to the number she had on file.

"Connecting you now, sir," she said at last and the phone at Ed's ear started ringing once more.

"Colonel Mustang's office," Hawkeye's voice said crisply right after the first ring.

"Hey Hawkeye," Ed drawled, leaning against the wall of the stall the phone was attached to. The owner had been kind enough to allow them to use it, even though Ed would have preferred he say no.

"Edward," was the disapproving response and Ed barely resisted the urge to shrink into himself. Hawkeye's disapproval could be downright deadly, and he was only spared the full force of it because they weren't face to face. "The colonel is available to speak to you now."

There was a moment of silence and then Mustang's voice said, "So you finally managed to find a phone close enough to the ground that you could call in and let me know where you crept off to in the middle of the night." Ed sputtered a little, unsure which jab he needed to respond to first, but Mustang wasn't finished. "The Fuhrer wanted to personally thank you for your part in bringing down the Freezing Alchemist and I had to stall him before making excuses for you because no one could find you."

"We didn't sneak out," Ed protested. "Al and I went to the train station and bought our tickets at sunrise. Half a dozen people even saw us go."

"And none of them were around when the rest of my team was looking for you." The colonel's voice was cold and Ed shifted uncomfortably, pressing a little closer to the wall. "You could have been in serious trouble if Fuhrer Bradley hadn't been willing to accept my promise to pass on his appreciation for you assistance when you called to check in."

"I couldn't stay there any longer," Ed replied after a moment, hating how vulnerable he felt admitting that the sneers of Central's citizens and the soldiers posted there had gotten to him. "If I had to deal with those people any longer, then somebody was going to get hurt." The silence following that statement made Ed realize that he'd been far more honest than he'd meant to be. "Besides," he added quickly. "Leaving early made sure that you couldn't give us any more stupid busywork before we could get to Liore."

Apparently this conversation had been doomed to be full of awkward silences from the start because there was a long pause before Mustang actually responded. "Found anything interesting there?" was what the bastard finally spit out, surprising Ed by actually allowing the younger alchemist to change to subject. Either Mustang was under Hawkeye's orders to keep the conversation short so he actually finished all his paperwork or Ed had accidentally stumbled on some sort of sore point for the colonel. Regardless of the reason, Ed was actually getting off the hook for running off without warning, so he wasn't going to question his good fortune.

"The entire town is some sort of cult," Ed told his superior officer, relaxing a little as he watched people walk by. "Most of Liore went running for the church to see Father Cornello's little show the instant the bells rang at noon and almost rioted when he took a little too long to come out of the church." Ed had seen enough riots during his time as a so-called dog of the military to know that Liore was a disaster waiting to happen. "Al and I are planning to try to talk to Cornello once the crowd thins out. It looked like he was transmuting organic matter into inorganic."

"Not possible." Mustang's statement didn't leave much room for argument, not that Ed intended to argue with it. One of the basic tenants of alchemy was that living matter could not be transmuted into nonliving matter.

"It's probably just a slight of hand," Ed admitted, keeping his voice low so Al hopefully wouldn't hear him. The last thing he wanted to do was to put a damper on his brother's recently revived chipper mood. "But there's a possibility that Cornello did actually stumble across a Philosopher's Stone and decided to use it to con people, so Al and I are investigating."

"Can you do me a favor, since you vanished from Central without a face and left me to deal with the fallout?" Mustang questioned, obviously over whatever little guilt trip Ed had accidentally triggered.

"Depends on the favor," Ed shot back, unwilling to promise if it meant that he and his brother had to leave Liore.

"Don't sink Liore into the desert or do something equally destructive before you vacate it," came the dry response.

"Sure," Ed agreed easily. The crowd had all but vanished, gone back to their regularly scheduled lives, which meant that he and Al would be able to get into the church without drawing too much attention to themselves. "Listen, I'm sure you have a lot of paperwork you're avoiding, so I'm going to hang up now." He snapped the phone down on its holder before the colonel could protest. "Come on, Al," he yelled, drawing his little brother's attention away from a couple mangy looking stray cats. "We have work to do." As if to emphasize his point, the church bell tolled once, marking the hour.

The interior of the church was a masterpiece of chiseled stone, a huge statue of the same robed man who was depicted hunched over at the top of the steps outside the building. Uncomfortable looking wooden pews lined the stone block floor, leaving only a few feet of space between the front most pews and the wooden table centered and placed just in front of the statue. Four tall candles were lit on top of it and a young woman with dark hair knelt in front of it as if praying. It was incredibly unlike the temple Ed remembered going to, admittedly infrequently due to he and Al's mixed heritage, as a child. That had been a building with warm brown walls and a domed ceiling, rather circular in shape, and Ed's vague memories insisted that there had always been at least one priest around. In contrast, the church felt empty and distinctively unfriendly.

Ed and Al made their way towards the front of the church, the younger brother doing his best to muffle his footsteps. Ed didn't bother, eager to have some kind of noise break the uncomfortable silence. "So this is the almighty Leto," he said, tilting his head back so he could get a proper look at the statue's face. The young woman scrambled to her feet with a startled gasp, spinning around to reveal that her bangs were a dark maroon color that faded into black towards the roots.

"Welcome. Are you interested in Letoism?" she asked without taking a breath, expression welcoming.

"No. Can't say I am," Ed replied. "Not really the religious type." Al's soft huff, too low for the young woman to hear, called him on his partial lie. The Elric brothers might not have been particularly good at follow all the basic tenants of their religion, but both of them believed in a higher power.

She smiled at them, head bowing a little as if accepting his answer. "Well I'm sorry to hear that," she told them, voice soft. "To know God is to know hope. If we believe in divine grace, then through him all things are possible. If you believed, surely he would bless you and make you grow taller."

 _Why_ , Ed questioned silently as he grit his teeth, _does everyone get so hung up on my height?_ He was well aware that he was short, and it frustrated him to no end, but having random strangers comment on it almost constantly was grating. "What's that supposed to mean?" he grated out, even as Al lifted an arm to physically restrain him if necessary.

"Brother, she's only trying to help," Al said and Ed let all the air in his lungs out in an audible huff before relaxing a little and slumping down onto one of the pews.

"What about bringing the dead back to life?" Ed inquired, meeting her eyes. "Do you believe that's possible too?"

"Yes." An almost peaceful smile crossed the young woman's face as she answered.

Ed sighed, slipping a hand into the pocket of his coat and pulling out the black notebook that stored all his alchemy notes. It was all to easy to flip it open to the correct page, lifting it up above his head so he could read off the list of ingredients that had gotten he and his little brother into this mess to start with. "That list represents the complete chemical makeup of the human body for the average adult," he informed her at the end of the list, snapping his notebook shut. "Its been calculated to the last microgram, but still there's never been one reported case of successfully creating a human life. And you're telling me that something modern science can't do, you can do with prayer."

"Lift thy voice to God," she retorted, leaning forward with her eyes flashing. "And the prayers of the faithful shall be answered."

"Did I mention all those ingredients I read off, down at the market a kid could buy every one of them with the spare change in his pocket?" He tilted his head back and glanced at the ceiling, stomach twisting in knots even as he blithely added, "As it turns out, humans are pretty cheap."

"That's blasphemy," the young woman said, sounding horrified. "People are... We are all children of God, created in his image."

"And She will listen to the cries of her children," Ed recited dully, letting out a weak little laugh. "There might be a god out there, but they're not interested in bringing the dead back to life. Besides, alchemists are scientists. They don't believe in unprovable concepts like creators or gods." That was probably why Ishvalans had such a problem with alchemy. The old stories, ones that he'd been told over and over again as a child, had priests performing basic alchemy, but the Ishvalan people as a whole had probably bulked when the science had brushed away God like She was nothing more than a fairy tale.

"They observe the physical laws that govern this world to try to learn the truth," Ed continued, glancing towards the ceiling so he wouldn't have to look at her increasingly angry face. "It's ironic, really, that through the application of science we have, in many ways, been given the power to play gods ourselves."

"So you're putting yourself on the safe level as God," she exclaimed indignantly. "That's just sheer arrogance."

"You know, there's an old myth about a hero that flew on wings made of wax," he told her, not allowing himself to be distracted. This young woman was being conned by Cornello, and what she was hoping for was never going to happen. If he could manage to convince her of that now, instead of letting her discover it later, it might save her some heartbreak. "He thought he could touch the sun, but when he got too close, his wings melted and he came crashing back down to earth. Right, Al?" He glanced up, but her eyes were full of anger and incomprehension.

"Brother," Al said, voice soft and painfully young.

"I'm sorry," Ed apologized as he jumped to his feet, the apology more for his little brother than for her. "Miss, this is difficult for me to ask, but do you think your Father Cornello could even save an arrogant scientist like me?"

She brightened instantly, eyes lighting up. "Of course!" she exclaimed, hands clapping together under her chin. "That's wonderful. If anyone can lead you to the creator's light, he can." She bounced a little, enthusiasm seeming to radiate from her very being. "I'll go see if he'll speak to you right away." Then she was racing off through the door on the right, hair flying out behind her. Ed watched her go, knowing that she'd never even considered the possibility that Cornello couldn't do what he'd promised. She was too far into the illusion, and the only way she'd see the truth was if Cornello shattered the mirrors in front of her.

"Cornello probably can't bring whoever she's praying for back to life, can he?" Al asked, voice small.

"No, I don't," Ed admitted. "But who knows. Maybe we'll all get a real miracle from Father Cornello."


	5. Chapter Four: The False Prophet

_Chapter Four: The False Prophet_

A curvy, dark haired woman rested her arms against the stone barrier of the balcony, wine red eyes fixed on the two brothers sitting in the sanctuary below. Her ample cleavage swelled over the top of her strapless dress, the cream colored flesh looking unnaturally pale against the maroon fabric of the long gloves covering her arms. Fidgeted from foot to foot a few inches to her left was a short, rotund man dressed in clothing the same red as the woman's dress. He too was focused on the two brothers below, his tattooed tongue hanging out of his wide mouth.

"Can I eat them, Lust?" the man squeaked, his voice surprisingly high and childish.

"No, Gluttony," the woman replied, her tone indulgent. There was a fond smile on her face as she turned and stretched out a hand to settle it placatingly on Gluttony's head. "We need these two alive for Father's plan."

Gluttony's shoulders slumped and he let out a soft whine, like a child who'd just found out he couldn't have dessert until he'd eaten his vegetables. Lust's smiled widened at the sound and she lifted a sharp nailed hand to cover her mouth, as if to muffle laughter that never escaped. Her eyes remained fixed on the Elric brothers below, leaning forward as if trying to hear what they were saying to one another as they waited for Rose to return. She could guess what had drawn these two sacrifice candidates to Liore. They had heard the rumors of what Father Cornello, another of Father's puppets, could do and had come to see if he had a Philosopher's Stone.

Rose stepped back through the door, a robed man in tow. Lust's eyes tracked their movements as Edward Elric rose, a wry grin fixed on his face. Rose said something, hands gesturing enthusiastically between herself, the Elrics, and the robed acolyte. The older Elric nodded and Rose's smiled widened as she clapped her hands together once in glee. The robed man nodded once and turned to lead the way through the door, shoulders stiff. No doubt Cornello had heard of the Elric brothers' reputation and planned to eliminate them. That would be a fight well worth watching.

"Come, Gluttony," she said, turning away as the Elrics vanished behind a closed door. "We have two sacrifices to keep an eye on." And if Edward Elric happened to eliminate Father Cornello, then Lust had to make sure that his borrowed Philosopher's Stone didn't fall into the wrong hands.

"Will there be somebody for me to eat soon?" Gluttony asked, expression hopeful as he glanced up at her, each of his footsteps making a soft shuffling noise as he followed her through the upper corridors to a place where they could gain access to the rafters. Lust knew where the acolyte was leading the Elric brothers and she suspected that hiding somewhere in the shadows on the ground floor would be inadvisable if she and Gluttony wanted to remain anonymous.

"Perhaps," she informed her companion as they moved carefully across the rafters, settling into their new vantage point just as the door to the room below opened inward.

On the floor, Ed and Al trailed after their current guide. "Father Cornello is a busy man, as you could imagine," the man was saying. "But he's cleared some time in his schedule to see the two of you."

"Yeah, thanks," Ed replied cheerfully, relieved that for once his information gathering efforts outside of a library weren't ending in violence. "We understand. We won't take up too much of his time."

"Good, then it's agreed," the man said, something in the tone of his voice changing. "We'll make this quick." As if to emphasize his statement, the two guards by the door shut it when a pointed thud. Prickles of unease rushed up Ed's spine and he turned his head slightly to see what was going on. The sound of their guide shifting rapidly had him spinning back around, only to have two guards blocking his way with their staffs. Their guide was standing with a revolver pointed directly at the center of Al's helmet.

"Brother Cray, what is this?" the dark haired young woman who'd arranged their meeting with Cornello asked. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Rose, these heathens have come to ensnare and discredit the father," Cray replied. "They're evil. This is God's will."

"But Cray..." Rose's voice came out choked with tears. Ed didn't let her finish. He'd had enough of this little game already.

"Well, like you said, let's make this quick," Ed snarled, flinging first one and then the other guard aside, trusting Al to take care of Brother Cray. While violence wasn't Ed and Al's preferred method of gaining information, it was often one that they were forced to resort to. Not many people were willing to freely give away information to a half Ishvalan alchemist.

One of the men tried to run, probably to get reinforcements, so Ed threw a staff after him, knocking him out. "What's this commotion?" someone demanded in a gruff voice and Ed turned his head to see Father Cornello step out of the shadows like some kind of villain in a play. "Ah, the Fullmetal Alchemist," Cornello said. "Welcome to the home of our sacred order."

" _Father Cornello_ ," Rose gasped, expression smoothing out from worry to relief.

"I must apologize for my disciples' behavior. It would seem that they've been misguided," Cornello continued, not bothering to acknowledge Rose.

"Okay," Ed told the man, only relaxing his stance slightly. "Say I believe that you weren't the one guiding them. What next?"

"Have you come to learn the ways of Leto?" Cornello questioned, expression still surprisingly amicable despite Ed's challenge. Ed had no doubt that the expression was simply good acting. Cornello had to be an excellent actor since he was fooling an entire town into following a false religion.

"Well there are a few things I'm curious about," Ed replied, considering leaving it at that before deciding to throw diplomacy out the window. "Like how you're using second rate alchemy to deceive your followers."

"My dear boy, I don't know what you mean," Cornello replied with a smile that was so wide it was borderline manic. "What your doubting eyes see as alchemy are really the miracles of the Sun God, Leto." Then he cupped his hands together, red lightning crackling around his palms. As he lifted his hands apart to reveal a miniature statue of Leto, Cornello challenged, "Look again. Could mere alchemy create something out of nothing?"

"Yeah, that's what I didn't get at first," Ed drawled, unimpressed. "How can you perform transmutations that ignore the Law of Equivalent Exchange?"

"As I said, it isn't alchemy," Cornello snapped, slamming the statute down on the railing of the staircase landing he was standing on.

"Then I started thinking about it," Ed continued, completely ignoring Cornello's show of frustration. "If you'd someone managed to acquire a certain object to amplify your alchemy, one that's said to make the impossible possible, that would explain everything."

"What?" Cornello questioned, something like disbelief briefly crossing his features. Was that because he didn't have a Philosopher's Stone or because he was surprised that Ed had him all figured out? The only way to know for sure was to keep pushing.

"I'm talking about the Philosopher's Stone," Ed told him, eyes fixed on the red stone on Cornello's ring. "Your ring. That's it, isn't it." There was a minute of silence as Ed waited for Cornello to speak up and deny it. When he didn't, the Fullmetal Alchemist stepped forward, saying "I've been looking for that."

"The ring is just a ring," Cornello replied, extravagant personality surfacing again as he got over his shock. "I am God's humble servant. It is from He alone that I derive my power."

"Still trying to pull that line, huh? If that's the way you want to play it, I guess I'll have to come up there and beat some truth out of you."

Cornello's eyebrows dropped and his disapproving expression would have been crushing to most fifteen year olds. Unfortunately for Cornello, Edward Elric saw Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye's disapproving expression on a regular basis. Cornello had nothing on her. "You really are quite the incorrigible heathen, aren't you?" Cornello sneered. "I thought there might have been some hope for you, since you come from a race that is notoriously religious, but it seems I was wrong. Rose, dear, that gun there beside you, pick it up."

"Uh, okay," Rose said, voice soft and frightened sounding.

"Now child, I want you to shoot the Fullmetal Alchemist," Cornello told her.

"No," Rose gasped, horrified. "Father, I can't!"

"I am the Sun God's chosen emissary. My word is the word of Leto himself," Cornello replied arrogantly. "Shoot him, Rose. It's God's will." Rose lifted the gun with a trembling hand, vaguely pointing it in Ed's direction with a torn expression on her face. "Why hesitate? When you lost your fiance to that tragic accident last year, who was it that saved you from the very depths of despair? Have you forgotten?"

"It was you, Father," Rose replied, voice wavering and thick with tears.

"That's right. It was I who took your hand and led you into God's light. And do you recall what it was I promised you then?"

"You said if I had faith, you'd bring him back to life," Rose said, the words bursting out of her as if they were torn from her chest. Her arms stretched out, pointing the gun at Al's chest.

"No, wait," Al protested. "It's not me, honest."

"He's not the Fullmetal Alchemist," Ed confirmed as Rose turned confused eyes towards him. "It's me."

Rose adjusted her aim, eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry," she said. "But I have to do this. I have no other choice."

"He's been lying to you Rose," Ed warned, stomach twisting uncomfortably. He understood her far better than she could imagine. He knew how it felt to lose someone so important that their death would drive you to believe truly impossible things were possible.

"You're wrong. I've seen his miracles," Rose protested. "Father Cornello will bring him back to life. I have faith."

"Fine, then shoot," Ed challenged, acknowledging that no religious debate or logical argument was going to sway her. Rose shook for a moment, closed her eyes, and then pulled the trigger. Her hand jerked when the gun fired and the bullet knocked Al's helmet off, sending him toppling backwards. " _Al!_ " Ed yelled, worried even though he doubted that the bullet had pierced the blood seal, and Rose let out a despairing scream, dropping the gun. Her expression was agonized, as if she couldn't believe that she'd just shot someone.

"The god Leto is pleased," Cornello said, sounding as if he was reciting something from a script. "You have done well, child. Now pick up the gun and shoot the other as well."

"Haven't you made her do enough already?" Al demanded, rolling and shifting so he could sit upright.

"But your head...I thought you were..." Rose babbled, expression becoming even more distressed.

"Don't worry about it. He's pretty solid," Ed told her, Al's head tucked in his arm for a moment before he handed it up to his little brother.

"Yeah," Al agreed in an effort to comfort the young woman. "See, no harm done."

At the sight of the empty space inside Al's armor, Rose gasped and lifted a hand to her mouth. Cornello seemed similarly surprised, saying "An empty suit of armor that walks and speaks? Do you still doubt it, Rose? This unholy thing is an abomination. Evil of this kind must be purged." He backed up and pulled a lever with a smug grin. "And I believe my chimera should be up to the task."

"So this is the sort of thing you do with the Philosopher's Stone," Ed mused with disdain. "That's just twisted." He stepped forward, away from Al, and clapped his hands together. "Anyway, looks like I'll need a weapon." He knelt, pressing his hands to the stone floor, and then rose, chosen weapon in hand.

"No transmutation circle," Cornello gasped, reeling back. "So the state alchemist title isn't just for show."

"What, did you think I was just the token Ishvalan?" Ed sneered at him.

"You truly are gifted," Cornello acknowledged. "However, your little spear is no match for chimera claws that tear through iron." As if to prove the man's point, the chimera swiped through Ed's weapon with a single blow, shredding his pants as well.

"You shredded my pants," Ed said with a wicked grin, watching as the chimera's claws fell apart. He kicked the creature back with the same leg it had attempted to maul, adding, "But I guess those claws don't do so well against steel."

"Bite him you stupid beast!" Cornello bellowed even as the chimera regained its feet and lunged towards Ed. He blocked the bite with his automail arm, unfazed by the attack.

"Like that kitty? Go on, get a good taste." He kicked the chimera under the chin, easily dislodging.

"Your arm..." Cornello gasped. "A brother trapped in armor..." Ed turned his head briefly to watch understanding dawn in Cornello's eyes. "I see. It's all becoming clear now. You did it, didn't you? The thing that even the most novice alchemist knows is forbidden."

"Why don't you come down here and try me?" Ed challenged, tossing his shredded coat aside. "I'll show you real quick who the novice is."

"Rose, this is the price for their sin," Cornello lectured, completely ignoring Ed for the moment. "These fools attempted human transmutation, the greatest taboo for any alchemist. In their arrogance they tried to bring someone back to life." Rose's eyes grew incredibly big, and Ed watched horror, pity, fear, and understanding rush through them.

"This is what happens when you tried to play god, or whatever you want to call it," Ed told her, fighting to keep his tone as gentle as possible. After all, it wasn't Rose's fault that her whole world was being shattered before her eyes. "Take a good look, Rose. This is what you want."

"So this is the great Fullmetal Alchemist," Cornello sneered. "Edward Elric. Not even half a man. Hell, not even half a boy."

"And what are you?" Ed snapped back. "You're just a phony that can't do anything without a Philosopher's Stone."

"Father, we just want you to hand over the stone before you get hurt," Al chimed in, tone imploring.

"Don't be absurd," Cornello scoffed. "Why? So you can use it for yourself? _Please._ If you fools are really so eager to play God, then perhaps I should send you to meet Him." He transmuted his cane into a minigun, red lightning flickering around it. His aim was rather horrific, which gave Ed plenty of time to transmute a stone wall in front of himself, his little brother, and Rose to shield them from the bullets.

"Nah, me and God, we don't get along too well," Ed dismissed. "Even if you did manage to kill me, I'm pretty sure She'd send me right back." Either that or Ishvala would destroy him utterly for some of the more bitter prayers he'd uttered since Mom had died and their attempt to bring her back had backfired horribly.

Al grabbed Rose and carried her out to safety as Cornello started firing again, obviously not caring about who he hit. "This way!" Ed yelled, transmuting a door into what had once been a blank wall so they could escape. People in the hallway screamed and jumped aside as the three fled, Cornello in pursuit. Whatever Cornello said to his followers spurred them into action, and soon they were blocking both ends of the hallway, weapons in hand as they mocked Ed. In response, Ed transmuted his automail hand into a blade and proceeded to beat them out of the way. Al took the next set, knocking them out of the way and allowing them to escape.

Once they were far enough away from their attackers to rest for a moment, Al turned his attention towards Rose. "What do you think of Cornello now, Rose?" he questioned, voice still gentle. "He just tried to kill us all. He didn't care that you were in the way."

"That's because...Because..." Rose sputtered a little and then stopped trying to defend Cornello. "What he said back there is true, isn't it?"

"We're not evil," Al replied, voice small. "All we wanted was to see our mom smile again. Our transmutation failed. What we made wasn't even human. Don't make the mistake that we did, Rose. People don't come back from the dead."

"That's not true," Rose protested, voice wavering uncertainly. "I mean..."

"Alchemy is based on the Law of Equivalent Exchange," Al explained. "The price of even a failed human transmutation was immense. It cost my brother his left leg, and it cost me my body." He lifted his hands and carefully removed his helmet to reveal the blood seal that bound his soul to the armor. "Do you see it?" Al asked Rose. "My brother drew it with his own blood. His leg had been taken. He was bleeding. I can only imagine the pain he was in, but through all that he still gave up his right arm to transmute my soul and bind me to this armor." Al carefully began drawing in chalk around the bell he'd removed from the church moments ago. "Now I just want to help him get his body back to the way it was. He wants to find a way to help me get back to normal too. It won't be easy. We might even be killed along the way, but that's the path we chose. All we can do is keep going."

"Cornello said...He said he could do it. He promised!" Rose's voice was thick with tears and she was trembling again, her hands clasped under her chin and her head bowed. "Just because you and your brother failed doesn't mean that he will."

Ed left his brother try to explain why human transmutation was impossible to Rose, making his way down to Cornello's office to set he and Al's backup plan into motion. He settled on the man's desk, waiting patiently until the false prophet ran by the door and then backtracked to enter the room. "There you are, you infernal brat," Cornello hissed.

"Can we just cut the crap and talk here?" Ed replied. "All I want is some straight answers about the stone. Tell me what I need to know, and I'll be on my way. Or we could get the military involved."

Cornello growled, glancing both directions to look for potential eavesdroppers before shutting the door to his office firmly behind him. "Ask your questions."

"You could do anything with the Philosopher's Stone, right? Why waste all that power performing phony miracles?"

"Because with each miracle I can attract new believers to the order. Believers who would lay down their lives for my sake. I'm slowly building an army, a legion of holy warriors unafraid to die. In a few more years I'll be ready to unleash this mindless horde on the world, and I'll use the Philosopher's Stone to tear this country apart. Who knows, I might even carve out a slice for you." Cornello started laughing, as if he couldn't hold in all his maniacal glee at his plan. Ed started laughing too, amused that Cornello thought he would just stand by and let this happen, even if he hadn't already had a plan in place to take down the man. "Wait, what are you laughing at?"

"I knew it. You really are a novice, aren't you?" He lifted up the switch that turned on the microphone which, when activated, broadcasted Cornello's voice to the masses.

On the balcony of the church, Al stood with a speaker that had once been a bell, making sure that all of Liore heard about Cornello's treachery. "There were never any miracles, Rose," Al told the distraught young woman beside him. "He lied to you. He lied to everyone."

"Why _you..._ " Cornello's voice bellowed out of the speaker. "How long? How long has that been on?"

"From the start," Ed responded with a smirk. "Your believers heard every word."

"But how could you?" Cornello demanded, irate. "You'll pay dearly for this." Red lightning crackled along his staff, beginning to transmute it into a minigun, but Ed was already moving. He cut the minigun in half, sending the broken machinery clattering to the floor.

"Just face it," he informed the man. "You're outclassed."

"I am without rival!" Red lightning crackled again and Ed flipped out of the way of what he was sure was going to be a recreated minigun, but when the red light cleared it revealed Cornello's mutilated hand.

"It's a rebound," Ed gasped, surprised.

"No," Cornello said, face twisted in pain. "I won't be disgraced like this." Lightning crackled again as Cornello form began to shift and change. "Now boy, behold the chosen emissary of the sun god, Leto."

Cornello's new, massive body sent Ed through a wall, the two of them crashing into the sanctuary of the church. Ed flipped out of the way of Cornello's oncoming fist, only to barely block the punch from the mad man's other fist. "My word is the divine word of God himself," Cornello snarled. "My fist is the almighty fist of judgement."

"Fist of God, huh?" Ed gasped out, voice strained before he dove away and sprinted around Cornello's towering frame. "Well if that's what you want, you can have it." He clapped his hands together as he sprinted, slamming his palms against the massive statue of Leto that dominated the front of the sanctuary. Leto's stone arm expanded and curved to punch a wide eyed Cornello in the back, propelling him across the sanctuary and slamming him to the floor, shattering most of the pews in the process. Ed sprinted across the floor to where Cornello lay prone, grabbing his head and yanking him up. "Shut up!" he snarled. "Just give me the Philosopher's Stone."

Cornello's eyes widened and he lifted a hand to his face, the stone on his ring going dull. Both of them watched as it broke free and toppled to the ground, shattering and turning into dust that blew away. For a moment, Ed could only stare in shock at the empty space where the stone had just been. "What the hell?" he gasped, voice little more than a whisper. "The stone. It's supposed to be perfect material. How did it just break like that?"

"I don't know," Cornello hastened to reply. "I don't know anything about it. Spare me, please. I was wrong. Please, _I beg you_."

Ed's stomach rolled at the and he stumbled back in horror. No one should have to beg him to keep their lives like his people who'd begged the Amestrian soldiers and alchemists who'd come to exterminate them. "N-No," he stuttered, back pressing against a wall as he scrambled back to escape the situation. "I'm not going to...I was just trying to...We just wanted to know about the stone, and to stop you from fooling innocent people into joining your cult. We didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"So, uh, what about me?" Cornello asked, voice tentatively hopeful.

"I don't care what you do," Ed told him, struggling to pull in full breaths as he tried to calm himself. "Just get out of here." Cornello nodded, scrambling to his feet and hurrying away as if he was afraid Ed would change his mind.

Once he was alone, Ed slumped to the ground, trembling and wrapping his arms around his stomach. The stone had been a fake, and he'd convinced a con man that he had to beg for his life during he and his brother's quest to get a stone. He hadn't behaved much better than the Amestrian soldiers who'd killed his people, and he was deeply ashamed. When Al and Rose joined him, minutes later, he was curled up and crying softly. All he could do when Al asked what had happened was mumble apologies for causing this much trouble over a fake stone. Rose, at hearing the words, started sobbing too, collapsing to her knees on the floor.

"But he promised me," she was mumbling, tears pouring down her cheeks. "He said if I believed enough it would happen. He promised me."

"I'm sorry, Rose," Ed told her, voice thick. "But people don't come back from the dead. Not ever."

"That hope was all I had left," Rose wailed. "What am I supposed to believe in now? Tell me what to do, _please_." Somehow her desperation helped Ed bottle up his own tears, allowing him to stand on shaky legs and push his guilt down so it wouldn't haunt him until later.

"I can't tell you that. You have to figure it out. Stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. You have two good legs, so use them. You're strong enough to make your own path." Ed walked past her, feeling hollowed out, and after a moment Al trailed after him. "Come on, Al. We have to call Colonel Mustang and tell him that Liore didn't pan out." They'd probably need to warn him that there was a riot brewing, not that Mustang wouldn't be able to figure that out once he heard the full story. For now though, Ed couldn't worry about that. He needed to get as far away from the church, and from what he'd done, as possible so he could start at least pretending to be himself again.


End file.
